Oscar Pistorius of South Africa (L) chases Martyn Rooney of Great Britain. (Photo from Slate)From Slate:
The emerging supremacy of artificial limbs.
Oscar Pistorius was born with defective legs. Before his first birthday, they were amputated below the knee. That didn't stop him. Now 21, he has broken three world track records for disabled athletes and is racing to qualify for the 400 meters at this summer's Olympics. If he can shave four-tenths of a second off his best time, he'll make it.
How has he done it? One answer is superhuman grit. The other is superhuman legs. Pistorius runs on carbon-fiber prostheses made for sprinting. In January, the International Association of Athletics Federations declared them ineligible, claiming they were better than human legs. But on Friday, the Court of Arbitration for Sport overturned that decision, clearing his path to the Olympics.
Go, Oscar, go. We're all rooting for you to cross that finish line in Beijing. Just one note of caution: Don't win.
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